Meanwhile, the United States of America embassy in Cairo has sent a delegation to the hospital to check on the injured people that included an American tourist, according to Al-Ahram.
Advertisement
“I assure the Mexican people that an impartial inquiry is being held, under the leadership of Egypt’s Prime Minister himself, and that Egypt is prepared to do its utmost to help in any way it can”.
The group had permission to travel to a remote area of the Western Desert, tourism officials said.
Her ministry delivered a diplomatic note to the Egyptian ambassador in which the Mexican government expressed its “deep dismay over these deplorable events” and demanded an investigation.
After the visit at the Dar al-Fouad where the recovering Mexicans are being treated, Massieu said they are stable and “evolving favourably”.
On Monday 14/9/2015, Egyptian security forces mistakenly killed 12 Egyptians and Mexicans of a tourist group in the Western Desert after mistaking them for terrorists.
A total of 12 people were killed in the attack.
The Mexican Foreign Ministry said that consular staff had gained access to the tourists’ bodies and confirmed their identities, and their families had been informed.
Many Egyptians on social media have criticised the government for suggesting the tourists were at fault for straying into a restricted zone.
Ruiz Massieu, who was accompanied by relatives of four of the victims, is set to visit the six Mexicans wounded in the attack at their hospital in a suburb of Cairo, a senior official travelling with her told AFP.
According to the Rasha Azazi, a spokesperson for the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, the tour company involved “did not have permits and did not inform authorities”, The Associated Press learned. The tourists had arrived in Egypt on September 11.
The country has struggled to quell a jihadist insurgency focused mainly in the Sinai Peninsula in the east since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
In the letter Mr. Shukri said Egyptians understand the pain felt by Mexicans due to the losses they face as a result of “fighting terrorism” and said it “pained” him that “some are using this incident to claim Egyptian security forces have no rules of engagement”.
Members of Egypt’s military and police were chasing “terrorist elements” in the country’s vast Western Desert when they came upon the tourists.
“I don’t think they were mistaken (for militants)”, she said.
Gabriela Bejarano Rangel, Rafael’s sister, told reporters in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara that her mother had organized the trip for a group of friends and that it was “not true that the area of the attack is forbidden”.
But in recent months, militants loyal to the Islamic State group have carried out attacks in more central parts of the country.
Advertisement
The US government lifted its two-year-long ban on military aid to Egypt in March and has committed to providing $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt this year.
